


humanity's strongest love letter

by myoue



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Era, Love Letters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:09:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1742636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myoue/pseuds/myoue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren can definitely read, it's just Levi who definitely can't write.</p>
            </blockquote>





	humanity's strongest love letter

“Here you go, Eren.”

He hands over a letter, or rather shoves it, into Eren’s clumsy fumbling fingers, standing there dubiously and waiting for Eren to react.

Eren just stands there instead, looking less than understanding with more than a little panicked curiosity welling up inside him. Levi gave him no context, no explanation, and just a few minutes ago they were talking normally about killing titans and schemes of taking over the government that frankly Eren had no lick of understanding even though he sat through listening to every word. It’s not that he’s stupid – well that’s part of it – but he mainly only entertained Levi by listening. And, well, listening to Levi talk had developed into a sort of past time for him.

Which is why he would much rather listen to Levi’s words than have them written down on a piece of paper for him to read. Then again, this would be the first time he’d see Levi’s handwriting and that was exciting to some degree. Not only that, but it seemed like it was actually _addressed_ to him.

He waits for Levi to give him some kind of explanation, but nothing comes. Instead, he watches as Levi strolls out of the room without another word but not without giving Eren a narrowed glance down at the letter in his hands and telling him with silenced threatening to open it, or else.

Eren has learned not to do or say anything otherwise when it comes to Levi.

He opens the letter with shaking hands and pulls out the paper. It’s rough parchment with even rougher black writing, and Eren squints to read it. At the top reads “Elen Yeager”.

And the rest is unintelligible. Entirely nonsensical.

He squints for a long time but cannot make out a single phrase. He thinks he can catch a few letters here and there and maybe a nonsense string of them together, but other than that the writing is so messy or is maybe even in a foreign language that Eren can’t read it at all.

If he was confused before, he’s ever more confused now. He has no idea what’s going on but holding the unintelligible letter in his hands, he feels the greatest sense of disappointment (but in Levi or himself, he doesn’t know).

-

Every time Levi sees Eren now, he stares at him for a little longer than necessary. No matter how many telekinetic thoughts he thinks he’s sending over, it doesn’t seem to affect the smiling face and the fact that Eren hasn’t said a single word to him about the letter. He thought he would have gotten at least something by now; it’s been over a week.

Levi knows for a fact that Eren can read. He remembers once or twice of a story Eren would tell about Armin teaching him to read and write, and Levi knows to trust that Armin kid at doing a good job.

So, why hasn’t Eren said anything? Perhaps he didn’t think anything of it? Perhaps he’d already forgotten about it?

But like or dislike, Eren must have felt at least something. Maybe it was a mistake to leave the room to give Eren some time to think about it. Maybe it was a mistake to write it down in a letter in the first place. There was no way in hell Levi thought he would be able to voice it out properly, though. He might stumble over his words or accidentally combust.

But the more Eren smiles innocently at him and the more Eren keeps going about his life as if Levi hadn’t just poured out all his feelings into a (tear-stained) piece of parchment, the more he wants to just go to his room and sulk forever.

Enough was enough.

-

It’s the next night when Levi takes a worried and flailing Eren by the arm and drags him into the nearest hall room, setting him down on a chair and standing over him with a watchful eye.

“Did you read the letter?” he asks bluntly, folding his arms and staring at Eren squirming in his seat.

“Um…”

“Did you or did you not read it?” Levi says louder, letting the insecurity of Eren’s perceived rejection fuel his anger-ridden words.

“I did…” Eren answers, not looking Levi in the eye and blushing cutely. Levi suddenly relaxes quite a bit despite his initial annoyance.

“And…?” Levi presses. “What did you think?”

He’s readying himself for the answer. Although, the fact that Eren sits there shy and unsure, not looking happy at all, makes Levi tense and on the verge of panic.

“I…” Eren trails off, looking away embarrassedly and steadies his palms on the tops of his knees. “I… couldn’t read it.”

Levi can only stand there appalled.

“What.”

“I’m sorry!” Eren covers his face with his hands. “I… I tried really hard to make out the words but I just couldn’t.”

“Can’t you read?” Levi accuses, starting to feel more sad and disappointed than offended. “I thought you learned how to read from Armin or something—”

“I can! I could read my name at the top. It’s just for the rest of it, the more I stared at your writing the more the letters all started to seem jumbled together. I’m sorry.”

Levi doesn’t know what to say. He’d never considered this might be the case, but maybe, just maybe, it was his fault his writing is so bad?

“Sorry! I’m sorry. It must have been something important too,” Eren jabbers on, face reddening, and looking like he’s about to combust before Levi does. “I almost wanted to show it to someone else to see if they could decipher it …”

“Don’t let anyone else see it!” Levi blurts, raising his voice unintentionally and startling Eren into silence. He curses himself.

“I didn’t,” Eren tells him quieter. “I knew you probably wrote it specially for me if my name was on the top.”

“It was.” Levi doesn’t feel too good now. He lets out a sigh before saying reluctantly, “It’s my writing, isn’t it. My writing’s crap.”

Eren nods slightly. “Umm, yeah.” Well at least he doesn’t beat around the bush now.

“…Sorry,” Levi mumbles.

He’s wholly embarrassed now. This originally loving, heartfelt gesture has now been completely ruined, and Levi doesn’t usually make regrets but if he did, this one would be pretty high up on the list.

He takes a breath. “Eren Jaeger. You are the light of my life. I love you. Levi.”

Eren just sits there blankly, contemplating those words for a bit, sitting, staring, and then finally saying, “…That’s it? There were a lot more lines to the letter, I think.”

Levi almost wants to whack Eren on the side of his head. “Shut up. I’m not reciting the whole thing. It’s embarrassing.”

He turns away, and Eren immediately stands up to hug his arms around Levi’s unmoving shoulders. Eren is so warm and close leaning over him, and Levi moves his arms to hug him back.

“Thank you. I love you too, Levi.”

“Okay.”

“You’re also the light of my life.”

“…Okay.”

“Shut up. You’re ruining it.”

“You shut up.”

**Author's Note:**

> both of you shut up!!


End file.
